America's Greatest Monuments: Washington D.C.

 (2008)

America's Greatest Monuments: Washington D.C. Blu-ray offers solid video and mediocre audio, but overall it's a poor Blu-ray release
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America's Greatest Monuments: Washington D.C. Blu-ray Review

One episode of a television series hardly makes for a worthy investment on Blu-ray.

Reviewed by Dustin Somner, May 2, 2009

Every now and again, I have the opportunity to review something that's a complete waste of time on Blu-ray. Prior to becoming a reviewer, the term I would use with my wife (mostly in reference to romantic comedies) is "not bulb-worthy" (those of you with projectors know all about keeping an eye on lamp hours). I clearly don't care about whether or not something is bulb-worthy when it comes to reviews, since I don't want anyone plunking down their hard-earned cash for a product they won't enjoy, but if I were still in my prior mindset, this "documentary" would fall into that category.

Here we have a view of the Washington Monument in glorious high-definition.

Washington D.C. is home to 156 monuments and memorials that represent a large portion of our American history. Originally airing on the Smithsonian Network, this hour-long episode delves into the history and meaning behind nine of most prominent memorials (with attention only given to one monument) and features interviews with historians and the creative minds behind the construction of several massive landmarks in Washington D.C. The featured memorials include the following:

Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial
World War II Memorial
Washington Monument
Thomas Jefferson Memorial
John F. Kennedy Eternal Flame
Abraham Lincoln Memorial
Arlington National Cemetary
Vietnam Veteran's Memorial
The Marine Corps War Memorial
Korean War Veteran's Memorial

Now that you have an overview of what this documentary is intended to be, I can delve into the reasons why it never succeeds in it's purpose. For one thing, the project is far too ambitious for a 52 minute run-time, which gives the whole thing a rushed feel. Why they chose to tackle 10 monuments/memorials, and only provide 5 minutes of history on each one is beyond me. I'd assume there's enough background information on each memorial to fill a full episode, so it doesn't make sense to merely give us an overview (especially when the majority of the information addresses commonly known facts about our nation's history).

If this were merely a shallow documentary on the redwoods of North America, I could end this review now and just tell you it's not a worthwhile experience. But what troubles me about the show is the lack of emotional connection with the subject matter. Many of the featured memorials represent an emotional period in our nation's history, yet there's absolutely zero emotion on display in the documentary. You'd think an organization like Smithsonian would understand how deeply these monuments are ingrained in our society, and treat the production of this documentary with a little more respect, but I suppose even the Smithsonian is a victim of hurried production schedules and limited funds for adequate research. Or perhaps I was just expecting too much out of an hour-long television show. Either way, most viewers will be disappointed with the content of this show and it should only be viewed as an opportunity to get a nice high-definition look at some beautiful monuments in our nation's capital.

America's Greatest Monuments: Washington D.C. Blu-ray, Video Quality

 

Presented in 1080i and encoded using the AVC codec (at an average bitrate of 35Mbps), Smithsonian Networks presents this documentary in an unexceptional but serviceable transfer. The film features a variety of shots that range in quality from fair to excellent. Interview sequences are highly detailed, with even the finest facial textures and hair stubble showing through. Outdoor shots typically reveal a nice level of detail, though there are some panning shots that demonstrate motion blurring (which could be related to the use of 1080i instead of 1080p). If you have an aversion to standard definition material, you should know that a good deal of lower quality archival footage is interspersed between high-definition shots of the present day memorials. I didn't find it distracting, and didn't downgrade the video portion of this review due to the inclusion of footage that cannot be cleaned up. On the positive side, colors were mostly vivid, though some outdoor shots had a slight golden hue to them. Black levels and contrast were both satisfying and I never noticed the presence of edge enhancement or digital artifacts.

America's Greatest Monuments: Washington D.C. Blu-ray, Audio Quality

 

There isn't much to say about the sole audio track on this disc. Presented in English Dolby Digital 5.1, the narrative-heavy track is predominantly located in your front soundfield. Background musical numbers are played alongside the narrative and provide the only activity to make it's way to your surround speakers. In an effort to keep from drowning out the interview dialogue or narrative, the music is kept at a low volume throughout the feature and never overwhelms the spoken portion of the track. Although the audio track is uninspired, it still manages to accomplish the purpose it sets out to achieve.

America's Greatest Monuments: Washington D.C. Blu-ray, Special Features and Extras

 

The only supplement is a five-minute advertisement of other shows presented on the Smithsonian Channel.

America's Greatest Monuments: Washington D.C. Blu-ray, Overall Score and Recommendation

 

As you can imagine by now, I'm not recommending this title even as a rental. The content of the show is shallow at best, and the only worthwhile aspect of the production is the high-definition visuals. The bloated suggested retail price of the disc would only be supported if there were an entire season of the television series, but for a single episode, it's far from a worthy investment. With how many good documentaries there are out there, I'd imagine anyone can find something better than this Blu-ray release, and I'd suggest you do exactly that.

Smithsonian Channel in conjunction with Infinity Entertainment has announced that they will bring 'Stories from the Vaults - Season 1' to Blu-ray on September 23rd, day-and-date with the DVD release. And yes, it stars the guy who plays J.D.'s brother on Scrubs ...